Thursday, April 19, 2012

Healthy School Lunches - Spring Edition

Well, the school year is winding down. In my area, the last day of school is in the third week of May. So with about a month left, I'm looking forward to a break in packing school lunches. I do have to say that this year has been fairly easier than other years to pack lunches. I think the biggest difference for me are the great compartment-ed containers I found. They are super cheap (less than $1 each) and I don't mind if he forgets them at school. Lately, I haven't had too much time to spend on bento techniques, but I've still managed to make some healthy, fun lunches. Here are some examples.
I put some leftover roasted chicken with a salad, triscuits, and an apple for dessert. I also managed to pack a string cheese in there since my son could probably eat about a dozen of these a day if I didn't limit them. I stuck a little mushroom decoration in there just to add some whimsy.

This lunch was made the monday after Easter. I wouldn't normally use a white dinner roll for bread, but there was a ton left over from Easter dinner with my in-laws and I didn't want them to go to waste. I tried balancing out the white roll with a whole wheat fig bar, green salad, and apple. In the sandwich I used leftover Easter ham and Muenster cheese (my son's favorite). I cut the apple like a checkerboard and added a face to the sandwich using cheese and nori. To cut an apple in a checkerboard like above, simply score vertical and horizontal lines across the skin of the apple, then peeling alternating squares of skin. Half an apple takes me about one minute. It's that quick and easy.

This lunch screams "I only have leftovers in the fridge!" It really is a somewhat odd assortment of leftovers that I threw together one thursday night. I made a "blob monster" with leftover roast beef by shaping an open mouth and adding a spinach tongue and meringue eyes (found at a cake supply store). I used my rice mold to make the rice cubes (yes, I know it's white rice, but that's what we had leftover from the korean beef the night before) and decorated them with nori using my nori punch which cuts out those adorable faces. I added fresh broccoli, carrots, and green beans. For the salad, I just used green lettuce, julienned carrots and cheese cubes. I added that adorable little lamb for some fun. Desert this day was homemade trail mix. I just took some nuts and chocolate chips from my pantry and poured them in the little compartment. This leftover creation took me all of 7 minutes to make. I was pretty proud of myself finishing so quickly and making it look so cute, even if I just cleaned out my leftovers from the week...

I just had to take a closeup of that adorable little lamb...

Feel free to share what you send to school with you munchkins in the comment section. I'd love to see other ideas. :)﻿